~The Beginning of Life~

//ARTHUR// Chapter 46 ; Gift Shopping \\

Arthur's POV

Date: July 6
Time: 11am
Place: Some Mall Khristine Recognized, NYC, NYC

It took a while to get to the city. Turner talked non-stop.
It took a while to find a random mall. Khristine talked until then.
More like they talked with each other. I had nothing to say.

Turner gasps at the sights of the huge mall. I maintain a blank face. Khristine grins and walks inside. Turner immediately follows, while I lag behind.

The two of them start talking again, and after an hour of hearing their random conversations, this silence is uncomfortable. So I walk a bit faster and try to listen to them.

"Have you decided yet?" Turner asks Khristine.

Khristine raises an eyebrow. "Decided what?"

"Who you're gonna date." Turner smirks.

I frown. Khristine didn't really strike me as the 'single' kind.

"Yes, yes I have," Khristine says dully.

Turner looks like he's going to explode. "Whoooo?" He asks, sounding a bit like an owl.

Khristine smirks this time. "Myself."

"How are you gonna get married and have kids, then?" I say out of nowhere.

They turn around and Turner bursts out laughing.
Khristine scoffs. "I won't."

I smile slightly. "So where exactly are we going?"

Khristine shrugs. "We should start by buying small boxes."

Turner stops laughing. "Then we should head to the adoption centre."

Khristine stares at him for a second. "People would probably adopt you just for bed." She turns on her heel and casually heads inside a gift shop.

Turner blinks, processing what she just said.
"Hey!" He frowns and follows after her.

I chuckle and walk in after him.

I head over to where the two were teasing each other.
Khristine suddenly cuts Turner off. "Yeah, sure, whatever. Now go get some ribbons."

Turner's face brightens when he sees the colourful rolls of ribbons hung in one corner. He instantly walks off.

"What can I do?" I ask.

"Help me find matching gift bags," Khristine says. Her tone is as bright as her eyes. And that means very bright. Not a very usual thing. Though I haven't been around her much.

I nod and head off to the bag aisle.

From what I know about Annabeth... Well from what anyone would know about Annabeth, she'd probably like simple colours with intricate designs, like intricate patterns, intricate swirls, intricate owls...

I take ten small bags and walk back to Khristine, who is sitting on the floor, trying to choose from the 30 different spools of ribbon Turner brought over.

I drop the bags in the basket which held assorted cardboard nets of small boxes.
I then tune into Khristine and Turner's conversation.

Every time Khristine decided off an unnecessary ribbon, Turner would highlight its multiple positives with a hint of charmspeak, without the magic, making it impossible.

This will be long.